TRIBUTE TO SOPHIE MARY GROBICKI
8 September 2008
On behalf of the family, thank you to everyone here for drawing around us today as we gather to pay tribute to the life of our mother.
Sophie was born on 9 November 1922 in Zytno, Poland.
She enjoyed a stable, happy childhood with her parents Jacek and Ewa, and brothers Leonard, Stefan and Andrzej. Although born into a privileged environment on the family estate, she was brought up to be, and throughout her life always was, unfailingly kind, generous and courteous.
She was always respectful to anyone with whom she came into contact, and in turn was deeply loved and respected by all who got to know her.
Sophie had tremendous moral strength which came from within, but had been built on initial foundations gained from her formative years at home with her parents and siblings, and later at boarding school at the Siostry Niepokalanek, a convent at Szymanow.
Sophie always exhibited strong leadership qualities. These were recognised early by her peers and her teachers when she was elected to be head girl of the school for the academic year starting September 1939. Unfortunately she could not fulfil this role as Poland was overrun by Germany that autumn, which was the start of the Second World War.
The home at Zytno was immediately turned by our grandparents into a refuge for friends, relatives and strangers who had been dispossessed of their properties in other parts of Poland.
Her heroism and devotion to her country was exemplified in 1943 when Sophie left Zytno for Warsaw to join the Armija Krajowa (AK) as an underground freedom fighter. Together with other incredibly brave women of her generation, they ran hospitals, distributed much needed arms and supplies, and carried out many dangerous and heroic missions in the attempt to liberate their country, first from the Germans and later from the Russian occupiers. She narrowly avoided losing her life during ‘Powstanie’, the Warsaw Uprising, when, whilst on one of her missions a bomb landed nearby as she was descending through a manhole in the street. Unfortunately the resulting fall shattered her ankle, which could not be set properly in the situation of the time, and affected her throughout the rest of her life. Although she was often in pain from the injury, particularly as she got older, she never complained about it.
Her heroism was recognised in her recently being awarded the Polish Cross of Valour (Krzyz Waleczny), one of Poland’s highest military decorations.
In 1946, after the war, when her life was at risk from the secret police, she was smuggled out of Poland by the resistance forces. She then bravely hiked over the Italian mountain chains, ending up in Naples, where she immediately found work as a nurse in the Red Cross.
It was here that she met our father Jerzy, who at the time was an officer in the Polish Arm of the Allied Forces.
After a brief courtship, they married in London and moved to Africa, where she lived for the next 40 years. With their pioneering spirit, after many hardships, our parents built up from scratch a thriving and successful farm in the highlands of Kenya and raised a family of three happy children. Tragically, Jerzy died suddenly in 1963. She showed great fortitude in continuing to run a multifaceted farming business successfully, in Africa, as a widow with 3 young children.
After the sale of the farm, she showed her great depth of resourcefulness by reinventing herself and worked till her retirement as a successful accountant and office manager, thus being able single handedly to support and educate her children firstly in Nairobi and later in South Africa.
Sophie had an abiding love of culture, music, literature and history. As a mother we experienced her as gentle, loving and a wonderful story teller .......especially of the epic classics of Polish literature.
Throughout her life her strong Christian faith and devotion were very important pillars. She was not only a regular and enthusiastic participant at Mass, but she also provided great help to organs of the Church both in a material way with mission churches near our farm in Kenya, and later as an active worker with the Legion of Mary and other charitable church initiatives, such as visiting prisoners and the aged.
She was unfailingly generous to all that she came into contact with. Even when her own financial situation was particularly difficult, Sophie continued to support her mother in law, who lived with us at home, as well as her parents and other relatives back in Poland.
Sophie returned to her roots in Europe in 1987 to be close to her friends and to her beloved Poland ……….and lived in London for the last 21 years of her life.
During this time, until her health started failing her, she regularly attended Ealing Abbey and participated enthusiastically in its activities.
Finally we would all like to recognize Ewa, Sophie’s eldest daughter, for her devotion and tender loving care which supported our mother during her fading years.
On behalf of her children and grandchildren, who all remember her love and tenderness and grieve our loss with sadness in our hearts, I bid farewell to our beloved mother, but rejoice for her in the knowledge that she will be reunited with all of those departed who were near and dear to her, and that now she will be able truly to rest in peace.
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Tribute given by Ted Grobicki at the funeral mass at Ealing Abbey, London, UK on 8 September 2008.
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